There’s one specific problem with IoT gadgets and their internal hardware. Actually, it’s an electronics problem as a whole.
The circuit boards, motherboards and components inside these devices are not easy to scrap. Some of them can be pretty bulky, so shipping or transporting the waste is expensive on its own.
Then, you need to account for taking them apart which can be a long-drawn-out and costly process. That’s because many circuit boards are fused with precious metals and materials that are extra conductive.
A lot of times you cannot just throw the boards out like regular scrap or trash ” you need to separate the materials first, at the least so they can be recycled and reused.
This severely impacts the sustainability of the IoT market, especially when devices have reached end-of-life.
A New York startup, however, may have found the solution to help e-scrap companies deal with printed circuit boards and components in a much more viable way ” in other words, the entire process can be made a whole lot less complicated and less expensive.
How Is This Possible?
The company, Advanced Recovery and Recycling (ARR), is designing a unique depopulator machine that uses a combination of heat and vibrations to separate precious metals from the main body of the circuit boards.
The federal government awarded them close to $400,000 total ” about $100,000 in 2015 and another nearly $300,000 in 2017 ” across two separate funding phases from the United States EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
They used the first chunk of money to pay for 3D drawings and concept designs of the machine, and the latest funding is being used to build a working prototype.
No doubt, many are wondering what benefits the depopulator will offer when it’s available, aside from lower disassembly costs. Here are just a few of them:
1. Precious Material Recycling
In most cases, a fiberglass substrate provides the strength of most circuit boards, and various components and chips are soldered on to the main body. This creates a solid, durable component that is not easy to break, or easy to scrap. ARR’s machine will change that.
The depopulator will be able to run in two different modes. The first will expose old circuit boards to extreme heat ” more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit ” and strong vibrations to achieve rapid separation. The problem with this is the components and materials removed would almost certainly be damaged in the process.
The second mode will expose components to much lower temperatures ” ranging from 350 to 750 degrees Fahrenheit ” so that once separated, they can be reused. Of course, this mode will take longer, but there’s the added benefit of reintegration for various components and materials.
Sadly, it will be some time before a working prototype of the depopulator is available, and an even longer time before it’s commercially ready.
2. Lower Transport Costs
E-scrappers and disassembly teams often work directly with a smelting and refining company. Once the components and materials are removed from the boards, the excess scrap is transported to a smelter, placed in a furnace and melted down.
Just the costs of shipping the boards and parts can be quite expensive, and the entire smelting process is much more laborious with larger components. The depopulator will not only reduce the need for transporting back and forth, but also the size of components being shipped.
Currently, electronics and circuit boards from the US are being shipped to foreign countries like Asia, Canada and Europe where they are smelted and scrapped.
3. Reduced Carbon Emissions
Anytime a board is placed in a furnace and melted down, carbon emissions are produced. Imagine that on a massive scale, with hundreds of thousands of boards and components being added to a large furnace. The emissions are egregious.
The depopulator machine can help cut down on carbon emissions by reducing the size and makeup of various boards.
ARR’s vice president, Peter Stockman, says that the machine will be cutting down smelting pollution by a factor of five. It’s this benefit alone that enticed the EPA and decision-makers to back the project financially.
A Prototype Is Coming
Of course, as exciting as this all is, it will be some time before a working prototype is available, let alone demoed to interested parties. Let’s hope ARR can work together to design and create something relatively fast.
